What is your party registration and how long have you been registered as a member of that party?

Republican, registered since I was 18

Previous public offices you have sought/held:

no previous office

Civic organizations in which you have been active?

Harrelson Elementary PTO
Home Owner’s association President

Are you using public funds in your campaign?

Yes

Do you have any sort of a criminal record or any outstanding civil judgments? Please be specific.

No criminal record

BREAKING THE ICE

What is the best piece of political advice you ever received?

Secure a minimum level of support and staffing before agreeing to run. It’s kind of like asking a girl to marry you. If you aren’t relatively sure of the way she is going to answer, you probably have no business asking. If you aren’t assured of a certain level of support, you have work to do before announcing.

What character trait best serves a public official?

Courage. A lot of politicians just show up to vote and are afraid of making a strong stance on an issue important to their constituents, especially if it may cost them some of their political clout. Doing the right thing is still the right thing even when unpopular.

What character flaw most harms a public official?

Pride. People in government need to continually realize that it is never about them. If the time spent on issues does not rate as important by their constituents, the official is completely off course, even if the issue may be important overall. Effectively representing one’s constituents should be a priority over remaking the world.

What is your favorite book (besides a spiritual text)?

The Virginian by Owen Wister, the first and best Western novel ever written.

What is your favorite place in Arizona?

I am a sucker for historical sites, especially Tombstone, Pima Air Museum, etc. If you notice a car pulled off the road looking at one of those obscure historical markers, there is a good chance it is me.

Which Arizona political figure past or present do you most admire and why?

I’ll be the latest to say Barry Goldwater. The greatness of Goldwater lies in the long forgotten art of political patience. Oftentimes, the greatest political ideas and movements are nurtured over years, decades, or even generations, as is, unfortunately, the recognition. It takes someone very special to be the genesis of such a movement or change. Witness as politicians now assure us that all the change we need can be accomplished in one election cycle. Barry knew better.

ISSUES

Has state government been spending too much money, the right amount, or not enough? Specifically, how would you change the state's approach to spending?

It’s not even debatable that the state has been spending too much money as we launch into multi-billion dollar deficits. I don’t believe at any time should spending accelerate year to year in double digit margins. Even if revenue can handle that growth, the extra money should be put away for future financial problems, invested in infrastructure, or returned to the taxpayer.

Name one state agency or program you believe gets too much money. Why?

AIMS testing. We could use MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) type tests which would give us a better metric in determining student progress, and is far more useful to our teachers. Better yet, the testing is more economical and adaptive then the “stick-built” AIMS standard.

Name one state agency or program you believe gets too little money. Why?

Teacher level K-12 classroom instruction. Any talk about increasing educational spending must begin from a “bottom-up” perspective with additional funds going to the classroom via supplies and increasing salary for teacher performance.

If you favor further state tax cuts, name one tax that should be cut and why.

Income tax on businesses. Business taxes are passed to the business customer and are rarely paid with business profits. Higher rates will cause businesses interested in Arizona to possibly look elsewhere. As
the business base grows, Arizona does extremely well as recently witnessed during the last few years. As the economy slows, it is a bad time to mug Arizona business to offset our extravagant spending.

If you oppose further tax cuts, name one strategy you would pursue to boost the state's economy.

I believe that Arizona should become a large energy exporter. Look at the financial benefit that Maricopa County receives from the Mesa Verde nuclear plant. Investing in this infrastructure will also produce more
quality jobs and spin-off industries.

Are there any circumstances under which you would favor a tax increase to offset future state budget deficits?

I can’t think of any, unless it was increasing one area of taxation in order to totally eliminate another, such as marginally raising the sales tax to totally eliminate the state income tax.

Should Arizona take the lead in fighting global warming even if the federal government doesn't? If so, how?

No.

What one state action do you think would work best to combat the problem of illegal immigration. Why?

Other than the laws that have already been passed, we might consider an "illegal immigrant” aggravated classification to non violent felonies much the same way “dangerous nature” is used. This would disqualify the perpetrator from automatically receiving parole, which is useless when dealing with unlawful entrants anyway. A felony with an unlawful entry aggravation would receive a minimum of a one year sentence which, in any case, could be suspended all or in part by the judge. After deportation, any subsequent re apprehension of the offender would refer them to federal authorities by federal statute, because of the previous minimum year status, even if all or part of the sentence was suspended. Not only would this provide a stiffer penalty for illegal entry felons, but it would shift much of the cost to the federal government where it belongs anyway.

If you could only introduce one bill in the coming legislative session, what would it be?

I'm not sure this is possible outside of adding items to the state constitution that remove any "gray area" that might be misinterpreted by the courts. Such a change, however, requires a vote via referendum and
isn't really dependant upon the legislature.

Name one unsuccessful bill during the 2008 legislative session that you believe should have become law.

From 2007, I would like to see the emergency room malpractice burden-of-proof bill resurrected. Southern Arizona’s emergency care has been decimated on a number of fronts, and passing this bill would be a big step forward in improving incentive for emergency room doctors to practice here. Lives have been endangered and even lost due to a shortage of emergency care in Tucson.

Should the Legislature act to reduce the influence of state and federal courts over state government? If so, how?

I would like to see a law that dedicates a certain small percentage of existing vehicle registration fees to be set aside and used to provide assistance to at-risk and rural trauma centers. This is appropriate as most of the injuries treated in these centers are a result of auto accidents, and more and more of these centers are simply closing, endangering the lives of Southern and rural Arizonians disproportionately.

What, if anything, should the Legislature do to improve health care for its citizens?

The problem that Arizona leadership has had in tackling health care is that they continue to look at it from such a narrow lens. The price of health care is important, however, quality and availability are just as large of factors, perhaps larger as if health care is not available, or is not able to perform its functions properly, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.

There is no magic bullet solution, but a number of laws need to be considered. First: shore up our supply of doctors, especially in emergency medicine, second: allows family practice medicine to be
separated from the current Medicaid and HMO billing structure that focuses on procedures rather than quality preventative care and monitoring, and finally, leverage that quality care to move toward more
of a HSA model that allows patients to take more ownership of the money spent versus the care received.

Of course, there will be a certain subset of the population that will require health care assistance, but this is certainly not a reason to rush to the lowest common denominator of health care that minimizes
quality and limits choice.

Do you support using state funds for bioscience research?

Yes, as long as it is done in partnership with our universities and they receive a portion of the proceeds and patents.

Do you support the use of school vouchers? Why or why not?

School vouchers is a pretty broad designation. Indeed there are many instances where I support vouchers, especially in regards to schools with specialized education for certain types of disabilities. In the
long run, however, I would like to focus more on improving the charter school alternative already in place.

Should the AIMS test continue to be required for graduation? Should it be toughened?

No, the AIMS test should be dropped for more the frequent, adaptive, and useful MAP (measure of academic progress) test used in the Amphi School District.

Would spending more money on public schools increase the quality of education in Arizona? Why or why not?

It depends upon how the money was spent. New and additional funds should be allocated mainly to the classroom level and rewarding teacher excellence.